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ABC becomes first Western broadcaster to go China-wide

Dominic White

The ABC has won permission from the Chinese government to have its Australia Network content made available to the entire Chinese population - the most extensive access afforded to any Western broadcaster.

Australia Network is expected to announce the landmark agreement on Easter Thursday, with an official signing in Shanghai to follow on May 4.

The deal allows the network's content to be distributed by a web portal and rebroadcast by Chinese television networks. It follows Prime Minister Tony Abbott's visit to China last week and will put pressure on the government to rethink its plans to withdraw the Australia Network's funding.

Veteran media buyer Harold Mitchell said the deal showed ''an incredible acceptance by China of Australia'' after the failure of big US companies News Corporation and Google to break into the market.

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''This is one of the most important breakthroughs in communications between our countries. No one else has been able to do it,'' Mr Mitchell said.

Britain's BBC World Service and America's CNN International are the only other Western broadcasters with landing rights in China. But their rights limit broadcast to certain international hotels and diplomatic compounds.

Australia Network, run by the ABC, has secured rights through Shanghai Media Group, China's second-biggest media company, to host ABC and other Australian content on a web portal that anyone in China can use.

Chinese broadcast partners will be able to buy the content to show on TV throughout the country. It includes Q&A, which was hosted in China last week, as well as other news and entertainment shows.

The deal will also enable Chinese media companies to sell content to the ABC and other Australian media groups. The arrangement also allows the ABC to establish a base in Shanghai with official approval to represent and sell media content throughout China.

It remains to be seen what censorship challenges the ABC will have to navigate in China.

Rupert Murdoch tried for 20 years to secure broadcast rights in China through Star China TV but never succeeded. His 21st Century Fox sold its minority stake in broadcaster Star China TV in January after his ambitions were frustrated by censorship and limits on foreign investment.